Nschenks

Hopefully not so they can leave a big red mark on his feedback page. I understand how little protection there is for sellers on eBay (I sell fairly regularly there myself), but it is such poor practice to cancel a sale in this way if it was a legit buyer. On that note, the winning bidder had a 204 score with 100% feedback and only bid once on the item, so seems more likely than not they were legit (though could still be a bot I suppose). I'm guessing the seller scrambled to cancel the sale before the winning bidder could provide payment.

LOL. Even if true (yeah, right, uh huh, sure) it doesn't validate cancelling the sale. Definitely never ever, ever going to buy from this person. Because it sold so low, I'd be willing to bet a bunch of people reached out offering higher than the sold price (but still below FMV), possibly even said comic shop owner. Question: should we consider adding this person to the 'blocked eBay user list' on the forums? I don't really know the rules for how that works, but cancelling a legit sale for better offers seems like pretty obvious grounds. Or do you have to be an aggrieved party to nominate someone?

If he didn't want to ship because the sale was so low, he shouldn't have posted it as a no-reserve auction. Pretty shiesty move to not honor a sale because they didn't do their research to know eBay was not the venue to sell this book (and didn't set a reserve on top of that). Personally, if I bought slabs, I'd put this seller on my blocked list in a second if it was true he didn't honor the sale.

Thanks! That's good to know--I've been using a third-party presser, but for this sub I decided to try out CCS. No major issues on any of the books, but there are some obvious pressable defects on many of the books that will tell how effective CCS actually is these days. There's definitely a benefit in having books be pressed and graded in the same facility (potentially saving time, money, and the risk of damage in transportation), so if they do a good job I may continue using them. Appreciate the insight!

Anyone have any CCS updates? My books have been “in process” for like two weeks.

I don’t think I’d ever auction a book worth over $5k on eBay, especially right now…

I'm not on the registry, but thanks for the heads up! Maybe I'll join--been toying with the idea of going for the 9.8 newsstand set...have a #5 in quite good condition so if that gets 9.8 we'll see! Feel like the #2-6 will be even tougher than #1 though.

Yeah definitely a pipe dream on his part. I love the raw hunt myself tbh and almost never buy slabbed books--so much more satisfying when that 9.8 comes back. GL with the search! Bound to be another prime raw copy that'll pop up at some point.

Crazy expensive, but just ran across this on eBay and I remembered you mentioning the 2nd print. Just in case you missed it and are interested!

Thanks! Yeah, I really like that they are notating Newsstands now. I'm not a big newsstand seeker, but it's still cool that CGC is recognizing it on the label. Actually got lucky on this one and found it raw--not cheap but definitely a good price considering what they can go for slabbed.

Pretty excited about this one

Not sure the best place to ask this, but I figured this would be as good a place as any: what's the deal with the Third Printing of the Special Origin Issue? By that, I mean, what's the story? I haven't been able to find out a lot of information about it. I'm mostly curious about where/why it was published, why there is no UPC, and why they seem to be so scarce (like, more-so than even Newsstands and Six Flags issues). Does anyone know anything about this? Publication date is over a year after the free comic book day one and 9 months after the Six Flags giveaway, which I always thought was kinda weird. Was it a promo released when Return of the Joker came out? Any info would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Nah I just ended up returning them. They were very clean otherwise, but the corner damage was color-breaking across all the books. Really poorly packed, unfortunately.

Nice good luck! I bought a full set a while back that all looked 9.8 but the box got dropped in shipping and corner crunched every single book

Ah ok that makes sense--I was wondering why the indicia dates were so spread out. #2 I think was 4 months after the first print of #1? May to September if I recall. Kinda crazy.

My guess would be it hasn't reached a high census count because it isn't really a key in any way and only really has intrinsic value to collectors of the series. That said, it has a similar black cover to #1 and is as hard or almost as hard to get a 9.8 in. I imagine if people catch on and the census count on 9.8's rises, the book will drop considerably, but at the same time it's been selling at 2k-ish for a while now and the census count has only gone up by 1 or something in the last year or so. The small number of 9.8's combined with the tough cover probably explains the price some--that, and I would imagine there are more than 12 people who are collecting this series in 9.8--the recent sale was very fast if I recall. Meanwhile, #3-6 are both more common and have much, much (much) easier covers.

Normally I'd agree with this, considering the something like 10x or more multiplier for 9.8's compared to 9.6's...but in reality I'm pretty sure like 98% of the 9.6's are 9.6's because of very obvious (and usually multiple) color-breaking spine ticks. I'd be willing to bet almost all of the current 9.6's would have no chance at 9.8--which, I'll admit, is pretty unusual. But it's an all black, fairly thick cover that marks veryyy easily. Not a ton of pressable defects, which is one of the reasons 9.8's are so hard with this book (#2 is the same way). 9.6's move pretty quick so it seems people are trying it, but I'd be curious how many actually bump. But that stark contrast between 9.6's and 9.8's of this book might explain why 9.6's are valued so much lower. (*A good comp might be Amazing Spider-Man #301--incidentally published the same year: similar 10x multiplier because it's fairly common in 9.6 but really, really frickin hard to get in 9.8 due to a comparable ticks-on-black-cover issue).

Thought this had a chance at 9.8 (looks wayyy cleaner than the Swamp Thing 37 I also just got back at 9.6...), but 9.6 feels right. The light finger bend on the BC completely pressed out, and the micro tear I mentioned I can barely see now that the overlapping bend is flat (more like a faint nick). Imagine this got knocked for the 3-4 small non-color-breaking ticks on the FC that were probably too close to the spine to press out. I don't like playing the re-sub game, but this is the first book I've gotten back where I think it could be worthwhile...then again that feels like a lot of energy lol. Nothing wrong with a really clean 9.6!

Bit of head scratcher here for me (in the best of ways though lol)...I had this capped at 9.4 personally if the press took care of some of the issues (it kinda did?). The book does look really sharp, but I was sure the spine ticks would keep this maxed at 9.2/9.4. Called it a 9.2 myself post-press. But, hey, I'll take it!

Does it work though? I know for me personally, if I click on something that says "NM-" it's because I'm usually looking for a book in a higher grade range. The second I see it's not even close (assuming I can't tell from the first thumbnail lol), I will move on. And anyone searching for NM is gonna pass hard. Anecdotal though, I guess... That said, in my experience scanning books sold recently, the price most books go for is usually more or less reflective of the visible grade and not what's listed. Occasionally you'll get the uninformed buyer, but that's an exception, I think, particularly for GA and SA where the buyers are usually more seasoned in terms of recognizing when something is over-graded (or *shiver* has unlisted restoration). I actually don't mind the over-grading as long as the pictures are good (I'll usually just laugh and move along)--what I hate way worse is poor quality photos that are intentionally blurred or obfuscated in some way to cut out or reduce defects. I feel like uneducated buyers are way more likely to fall for those than something listed as NM- that is clearly VG. Or maybe my outlook is too rosy and I'm just hoping these lame 'tactics' don't actually work.

If it has texture (like it's popped out), it may actually be a piece of dirt or some other particle that got stuck to/partially embedded in the cover. Not advising this necessarily, but might be worth running a fingernail lightly against it to see if it pops loose IF it is a piece of dirt or something. I've had books with this kind of crud that came off easily and left no mark. But you'd know better than anyone if it's a stain or not. If it is a stain though, yeah, that knocks it well below NM.

One time price drop! IH271 is $125 below FMV (and last sale)

Spider-Gwen #25 Second Print CGC 9.8 WP-- $145 $135 shipped

Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 Newsstand Edition CGC 9.8 WP-- $230 $215 shipped

Incredible Hulk #271 CGC 9.8 WP-- $895 $850 shipped Note: There is some very light scuffing on the right edge of the holder on the back--maybe 1 inch of so where the plastic rubbed during shipping and the texture is a bit rough. Not super noticeable, but I tried to picture it. Other than that, no newton rings (! a rarity these days lol) or scuffing that I can see.